Senior Care Activities: Decorative Button Bowl
Senior Care in New York City
Keeping your parents’ minds active and engaged is an important part of supporting sharp cognition, healthy memory, and good mental and emotional health. One way that you can do this in a meaningful and memorable way is to introduce more crafting activities into your senior care journey with your aging parents. Whether they do them with you, with their senior health care services provider, or even with your children as a multigenerational care experience, doing crafts together is a great way to stimulate their minds, boost their mental and emotional health, and make memories that you will treasure well into the future.
This project is not only something fun and enjoyable for your parents to create, but has the added benefit of giving them a sense of accomplishment and pride when they get to put their completed project on display for everyone to see. This decorative bowl is a unique and quirky accent for any room in your parents’ home, and a great way to use up those extra buttons that many people have sitting around in their junk drawers.
If your seniors do not have a button collection already, heading out to the fabric or craft store with you or their senior health care services provider to choose buttons for their project is a great way to further the benefits of the project and even get in some extra physical activity. Choose a variety of sizes of flat, round buttons in different shades of the same color or a combination of colors for the best effect.
What You Will Need
- A cup or a can to balance the balloon on
- News paper
- Scissors
- A large paint brush
- White glue
- Balloons
- Flat buttons in desired sizes and colors
What to Do
- Blow up a balloon to the desired size of the bowl
- Place the balloon knot side down in the cup or can
- Cover the top half of the balloon with glue using the paintbrush or a finger
- Alternate holding the balloon the knot if needed to coat completely
- Allow the glue to dry completely in a room temperature room
- Apply a second coat of glue using the brush or finger
- Beginning at the top of the balloon and working down toward the knot, place the buttons in the glue as close together as possible
- Continue adding the second layer of glue and adding buttons unto half of the balloon is covered
- Once all of the desired buttons are on the balloon, turn the balloon so the knot is facing up and the buttons are resting on the lip of the cup or can, keeping the buttons from sliding during the drying process
- Allow the layer of glue to dry completely, usually about 4 to 5 hours
- Once the second later of glue is set, coat the buttons again with a third layer
- Allow the third layer to sit overnight and dry completely
- Coat the buttons one more time with glue and allow to sit for 4 to 5 hours as a final strengthening measure
- When the bowl is completely dry, use the scissors to cut the knot of the balloon and slowly let the air out
- If glue drips down, peel it back and use the scissor to snip any bits of the clue away from the button edge
If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring in-home senior care in New York City, call the caring staff at The Perfect Home Care today: (855) 855-5728
- How Can You Tell When Your Elderly Loved One Really Can’t Live on Her Own Any Longer? - May 12, 2017
- Four Age-related Vision Problems in Seniors - April 14, 2017
- 5 Things to Know About Occupational Therapy - April 7, 2017
